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Northwestern has hired Illinois assistant coach Spencer Allen to be its next baseball coach, the athletic department announced Sunday.

Allen spent a season at Illinois following two years as an associate head coach at Creighton.

“To be named the head baseball coach and join the Northwestern University family is a tremendous honor and opportunity,” Allen said in a statement. “The combination of a highly regarded athletic department and a prestigious academic institution was very appealing to me. My family and I are extremely excited for this new opportunity at Northwestern.”

With Allen as an assistant under Dan Hartleb, the Fighting Illini reached the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament this season before losing to Vanderbilt in two straight games.

At NU, Allen will replace Paul Stevens, who retired this spring after 31 seasons at NU, including 27 as head coach.

“Throughout our exhaustive search process, Coach Allen’s name came up continuously as one of the very best recruiters and top teachers of the game nationwide,” NU athletic director Jim Phillips said in a statement. “Amongst those in the college baseball community, he is widely considered to be one of the brightest young coaches in the game anywhere in the country.”